And if these wonders we must with wonder abandon, Astronomy"s Cosmos, the Immense, and those physical laws That link mind to matter, laws mutual in revelation, Which measure and a.n.a.lyse Nature"s primordial o.r.g.a.s.m, Lifegiving omnipotential LIGHT, its speed to determine, Untwist its rainbow of various earthcoloring rays, Counting strictly to each its own millionth-millimetred Wave-length, and mapping out on fray"d diffraction of ether All the adust elements and furnaced alchemy of[v]heav"n; Laws which atone the disorder of infinit observation 150 With tyrannous numbers and abstract theory, closing Protean Nature with nets of principle exact; Her metamorphoses trans.m.u.ting by correlation, All heat, all chemical concourse or electrical action, All force and all motion of all matter, or subtle or gross:-- If we these wonders, I say, with wonder abandon, Nor can for mental heaviness their high study pursue, Yet no story of adventures or fabulous exploit Of famous"d heroes hath so romantic a discourse, As these growing annals of long heav"n-scaling achievement And far discoveries, which he who[v]idly neglecteth 161 Is but a boor as truly ridiculous as the village clown, In whose thought the pleasant sun-ball performeth a circuit Daily above mother earth, and resteth nightly beneath her.
Nor will a man, whose mind respects its own operations, Lightly resign himself to remain in darkness uninform"d, While any true science of fact lies easy within reach Concerning Nature"s eternal essential object, Self-matter, embodying substratum of ev"ry relation Both of Time and s.p.a.ce, at once the machinery and stuff Of those Ideas; carrier, giver, only receiver 171 Of such perceptions as arise in sensible organs.
Now whether each element is a coherency of equal Strictly symmetric atoms, or among themselves the atoms are Like animals in a herd, having each an ident.i.ty distinct, --So that atoms of gold compar"d with sulphur or iron Are but as ancient Greeks compar"d with Chinamen and Turks;-- Nor whether all elements are untrans.m.u.table offspring From one kind or more thro" endless eternity changing, Or whether invisibles claim rightly the name of immortals, I make no[v]enquiry; matter minutely divided 181 Showing a like paradox, with ever-continuous extent, And, as Adam, the atom will pose as a naked a.s.sumption:-- But since all the knowledge which man was born to attain to Hath these only channels, (which must limit and qualify[v]it,) We shall con the grammar, the material alphabet of life, Yea, ev"n more from error to preserve our inquisitive mind, Than to secure well-being against adversity and ill.
Surely if all is a flux, "tis well to look into the fluid, Inspect and question the apparent, shifty behaviour, 190 Wherein lurketh alone our witness of all physical law, As we read the habits unchanging of invisible things, Their timeless chronicles, the unintelligent ethic of dust: In which dense labyrinth he who was guiding avised me, With caution saying "Were this globe"s area of land Wholly cover"d from sight, pack"d close to the watery margins With mere empty vessels, I could myself put in each one Some different substance, and write its formula thereon."
Thus would speak the chemist; and Nature"s superabundance, Her vast infinitude of waste variety untold, 200 As[v]her immense extent and inconceivable object, Squandering activities throughout eternity, dwarfeth Man"s little aim and hour, his doubtful fancy: what are we?
Our petty selfseekings, our speedily pa.s.sing affections?
Life having existed so extravagantly before us; Earth bearing so slight a regard or care for us; and all After us unconcern"d to remain, strange, beautiful as now.
May not an idle echo[v]of an antique poetry haunt me, "Friendship is all feigning, yea[v]all loving is folly only"?
--Yet doth not very mention of antique poetry and love 210 Quickly recall to better motions my dispirited faith?
And I see man"s discontent as witness a.s.serting His moral ideal, that, born of Nature, is heir to Her children"s t.i.tles, which nought may cancel or impugn; Not wer" of all her works man least, but ranking among them Highly or ev"n as best, he wrongs himself to imagine His soul foe to her aim, or from[v]her sanction an outlaw.
Nay, but just as man should appear more fully accordant With things not himself, would they rank with[v]him as equals: Judging other creatures he sets them wholly beneath him; His disquiet among manifold and alien objects 221 Being sure evidence, the effect of an understanding, And perception allow"d by Nature solely to himself.
Highly then is to be prais"d the resourceful wisdom of our time, That spunged out the written science and theories of life, And, laying foundation of its knowledge in physical law, Gave it preeminence o"er all enquiry, erecting Superstructive of all, bringing ev"ry research to the object, Boldly a new science of MAN, from dreamy scholastic Imprisoning set free, and inveterate divination, 230 Into the light of truth, to the touch of history and fact.
Since "the proper study of mankind is man",--nor aforetime Was the proverb esteem"d as a truism less than it is now,-- "Tis strange that the method lay out of sight unaccomplisht, And that we, so late to arrive, should first set a value On the delusive efforts of human babyhood; and so Witnessing impatiently the rear of their disappearance, Upgathering the relics and vestiges of primitive man, Should ratify[v]instinct for science, look to the darkness For light, find a knowledge where "twas most groping or unknown: 240 While civilization"s advances mutely regarding Talk we of old scapegoats, discuss bloodrites, immolations, Worship of ancestors; explain complexities involved Of tribal marriages, derivation of early religions, Priestly taboos, totems, archaic mysteries of trees, All the devils and dreams abhorr"d of barbarous ages.
And "tis a far escape from wires, wheels and penny papers And the worried congestion of our Victorian era, Whose many inventions of world-wide luxury have changed Life"s very face:--but enough we hear of progress, enough have 250 Our conscious science and comforts trumpeted; altho"
Hardly can I, who so many years eagerly frequented Bartholomew"s fountain, not speak of things to awaken Kind old HIPPOCRATES, howe"er he; slumbereth, entomb"d "Neath the shatter"d winejars and ruined factories of Cos, Or where he wander"d in Thessalian Larissa: For when his doctrine, which Rome had wisely adopted, Sank lost with the treasures of[v]her deep-foundering empire, No[v]art or science grew so contemptible, order"d 259 So by mere folly, windy caprice, superst.i.tion and chance, As boastful MEDICINE, with humours fit for a madhouse, Save when some Sydenham, like Samson among the Philistines, Strode bond-bursting along with a smile of genial instinct.
Nor when here and there some ray, in darkness arising, Hopefully seem"d to herald the coming dawn, (as when a Laennec Or Jenner invented his meed of worthy remembrance,) Did one mind foresee, one seer foretell the appearance Of that unexpected daylight that arose upon our time.
Who dream"d that living air poison"d our SURGERY, coating All our sheeny weapons with germs of an invisible death, 270 Till he saw the sterile steel work with immunity, and save Quickly as its warring scimitars of victory had slain?
Saw what school-tradition for nature"s kind method admir"d, --In those lifedraining slow cures and bedridden agues,-- Forgotten, or condemn"d as want of care in a surgeon?
Tho" MEDICINE makes not so plain an appeal to the vulgar, Yet she lags not a whit: her pregnant theory touches Deeper discoveries,[v]her more complete revolution Gives promise of wider benefits in larger abundance.
Where she nam"d the disease she now separates the bacillus; 280 Sets the atoms of offence, those blind and sickly bloodeaters, "Neath lens and daylight, forcing their foul propagations, Which had ever prosper"d in dark impunity unguest, Now to behave in sight, deliver their poisonous extract And their strange self-brew"d, self-slaying juice to be handled, Experimented upon, set aside and stor"d to oppose them.
So novel and obscure a research, such hard revelations Of Nature"s cabinet,--tho" with fact amply accordant, And by hypothesis much dark difficulty resolving, Are not quickly receiv"d nor approv"d, and sensitive idlers, Venturing in the profound terrible penetralia of life, 291 Are shock"d by[v]a method that shuns not contamination With cruel Nature"s most secret processes unmaskt.
And yet in all mankind"s disappointed history, now first Have[v]his scouts push"d surely within[v]his foul enemies" lines, And his sharpshooters descried their insidious foe, Those swarming parasites, that barely within the detection Of manifold search-light, have bred, swimming unsuspected Thro" man"s brain and limbs, slaying with loathly pollution His beauty"s children,[v]his sweet scions of affection, 300 In fev"rous torment and tears, his home desolating Of their fair innocence, breaking[v]his proud pa.s.sionate heart, And his kindly belief in G.o.d"S good justice arraigning.
With what wildly directed attack, what an armory illjudged, Has he, (alas, poor man,) with what c.u.mbrous machination Sought to defend himself from their Lilliputian onslaught; Aye discharging around him, in obscure night, at a venture, Ev"ry missile which[v]his despair confus"dly imagin"d; His simples, compounds, specifics, chemical therapeutics, Juice of plants, whatever was nam"d in lordly Salerno"s 310 Herbaries and gardens, vipers, snails, all animal filth, Incredible quackeries, the pretentious jugglery of knaves, Green electricities, saints" bones and priestly anointings.
Fools! that oppose his one scientific intelligent hope!
Grant us an hundred years, and man shall hold in abeyance These foul distempers, and with this world"s benefactors Shall PASTEUR obtain the reward of saintly devotion, His crown heroic, who fought not destiny in vain.
"Tis success that attracts: "twas therefore so many workers Ran pellmell to the schools of Nature in our generation, 320 While other employments have lack"d their genius and pined.
Our fathers" likings we thought semibarbarous, our art Self-consciously sickens in qualms of an aesthetic aura, Noisily in the shallows splashing and disporting uninspir"d.
Our famed vulgarities whether in speech, taste or amus.e.m.e.nt, Are not amended: Is it foolish, hoping for a rescue, First to appeal to the strong, for health to the healthy amongst us?
--For the Sophists" doctrine that GRACE is dying of old age I hold in derision, their inkpot theories of man, Of his cradle of art, his deathbed of algebra;--and see 330 How Science has wrought, since we went idling at Eton, One thing above surmise:--An" if I may dare to remind you How Vergil praises your lov"d Lucretius, (of whom My matter and metre[v]have set you thinking, as I fear,) In that glory which ends "et inexorabile fatum Subjecit pedibus strepitumque Acherontis avari": Sounded not most empty to us such boast of a pagan, Strangely to us tutor"d to believe, with faith mediaeval, Torture everlasting to be justly the portion of all souls, Nor but by the elects" secret predestiny escaped? 340 If you think to reply,--making this question in answer,-- "Did the belief disturb for a moment our pleasure in life?"
No.--And men gather in harvest on slopes of an active Volcano: natheless the terror"s enormity was there; Now "tis away: Science has pierced man"s cloudy common-sense, Dow"rd his homely vision with more expansive an embrace, And the rotten foundation of old superst.i.tion exposed.
That trouble of Pascal, those vain paradoxes of Austin, Those Semitic parables of Paul, those tomes of Aquinas, All are thrown to the limbo of antediluvian idols, 350 Only because we learn mankind"s true history, and know That not at all from a high perfection sinfully man fell, But from baseness arose: We have with sympathy enter"d Those dark caves, his joyless abodes, where with ravening brutes, Bear or filthy hyena, he once disputed a shelter:-- That was his Paradise, his garden of Eden,--abandon"d Ages since to the drift and drip, the cementing accretions Whence we now separate his bones buried in the stalagma, His household makeshifts, his hunting tools, his adornments, From the scatter"d skeletons of a lost prehistoric order, 360 Its mammoth and woolly rhinoceros, the machairodos, and beasts Whose unnamed pastures the immense Atlantic inundates.
In what corner of earth lie not dispersed the familiar Flinty relics of his old primitive stone-cutlery? what child Kens not now the design, the adapted structure of each one Of those hand-labor"d chert-flakes, whether axe, chisel, or knife, Spearhead, barb of arrow, rough plane or rudely serrate saw?
Stones that in our grandsires" time told no sermon, (awaiting Indestructible, unnumber"d, on chary attention,) From their preadamite pulpits now cry Revelation. 370 Not to a Greek his chanted epic had mortal allurement, Conjuring old-world fancies of Ilium and of Olympus, As this story to me, this tale primaeval of unsung, Unwritten, ancestral fate and adversity, this siege Of courage and happiness protracted so many thousand Thousand years in a slow persistent victory of brain And right hand o"er all the venom"d stings, sharpnesses of fang And dread fury whate"er Nature, tirelessly devising, Could develop with tooth, claw, tusk, or horn to oppose them.
See now Herakles, who strangled snakes when an infant 380 In[v]his cradle alone; and nought but those petty stonechips For the battle: "twas wonder above wonders his achievement: Yea, and since he thought as a child "twas natural in[v]him, Meeting in existence with purposes antagonistic, Circ.u.mstances oppos"d to desire, vast activities, which Thwarted effort, to a.s.sume All-might as spiteful against him.
Nay, as an artist born, impell"d to devise a religion,-- So to relate himself ideally with the immortal,-- This quarrel of reason with what displeas"d his affections Was not amiss. The desire and love of beauty possess man: Art is of all that beauty the best outwardly presented; 391 Truth to the soul is merely the best that mind can imagine.
No lover eternal will hold to an older opinion If but lovelier ideas, with Nature agreeing, Are to his understanding offer"d.... But enough: "tis an unsolv"d Mystery.--Yet man dreams to flatter[v]his deity saying "Beautiful is Nature!" rather "tis various, endless, And her efforts fertile in error tho" grand in attainment.
If we, while praising[v]her scheme and infinite order, Are compell"d to select, our choice condemns the remainder; Nor can wisdom honour those loathly polluting offences, 401 Whose very names to the Muse are either accursed or unknown.
Nay, if such foul things thou deemest worthy, the fault was Making us, O Nature, thy judge and tearful accuser.
Turn our thought for awhile to the symphonies of Beethoven, Or the rever"d preludes of mighty Sebastian; Is there One work of Nature"s contrivance beautiful as these?
Judg"d by beauty alone man wins, as sensuous artist; And for other qualities, the spirit"s differentia, Nature Scarce observes them at all: that keen unfaltering insight, 410 Whereby[v]earthly desire"s roaming wildernesses are changed Into a garden a-bloom; its wandering impossible ways Into pillar"d avenues, alleys and fair-flow"ry terrac"d walks, (Where G.o.d talks with man, as once "twas fancied of Eden;) That transcendental supreme interpreting of sense, Rendering intelligence pa.s.sionate with mystery, linking Sympathy with grandeur, the reserve of dignity with play; Those soul-formalities, the balance held "twixt the denial And the betrayal of intention, whose masteries invite, Entice, welcome ever, meet, and with kindliness embrace; 420 Those guarded floodgates of boundless, lovely resources, Whence nothing ill issues, no distraction nor abortion Hindering enjoyment, but in easy security flow forth Ecstasies of fitness, raptures and harmonies of heav"n.
Surely before such work of man, so kindly attemper"d, Nature must be asham"d, had she not this ready answer, "Fool, and who made thee?"-- I shall not seem a deserter, Where in an idle essay my verse to a fancy abandon"d Praiseth others: rather while art and beauty delight us, While hope, faith and love are warm and lively in our hearts, Sweet our earthly desire and dear our human affection, 431 We may, joyfully despising the pedantries of old age, Hold to the time, nor lose the delight of mortal attainment; Keenly rejoicing in all that wisdom approves, nor allowing Ourselves at the challenge of younger craft to be outsailed; But tr.i.m.m.i.n.g our old canvas in all change of weather and wind, Freely without fear urge o"erseas our good vessel onward, Piloting into the far, unmapp"d futurity.--Farewell.
2
EPISTLE II
TO A SOCIALIST IN LONDON
No[v]ethical system, no contemplation or action, No reason"d att.i.tude of mind nor principle of faith, Neither Socratical wisdom nor saintly devotion, Buildeth a fortress against heart-ache & compa.s.sionate grief, Nor responds to desire, nor with true mastery yieldeth Easy repose to the mind; And since all our study endeth Emptily in full doubt,--fathoming the divine intention In this one thing alone, that, howsoe"er it affect us, "Twas never intended for mortal fancy to compa.s.s,-- I[v]have concluded that from first purposes unknown 10 None should seek to deduce ideal laws to be liv"d by; And, loving art, am true to the Muse, & poetry extol: Therefore "twas that afore I prais"d & heartily enjoy"d Your human verses, FRASER, when n.o.body bought them, More than again I praise those serious exhortations, Wherewith you wu"d amend the degraded people about you.
Nay tho" like a prophet with heav"n-sent dignity inspir"d, With ready convincement and stern example a.s.suring, Mightily you proclaim your love-messag" in the a.s.sembly, Exhibiting panaceas of ancient ill, propagating 20 Out of a Scotch cerebrum the reforming zeal of a TOLSTOI, I listen all unmov"d, as a sceptic among the believers.
Yet what a charm has an earnest soul, whom sympathy uncheckt For human suffering has strengthen"d and dedicated Bravely to serve his kind, to renounce his natural instinct, And liv" apart, indulging in acts of mercy, delighted In wisdom"s rock-hewn citadel[v]her law to ill.u.s.trate, Embodying the pattern of self-integrity complete.
Yea, what a charm pervades discourse, that loftily reason"d Points the narrow pathway throu" this world"s ugly disorder; How very fair will appear any gate of cleanliness, open 30 From the city"s tumult, its rank impurity, its dread Vulgarity"s triumph: Nay sure & bounteous as Truth, Beautiful in confusion appeareth Simplicity"s way.
--"Simple it is, (you say) G.o.d is good,--Nature is ample,-- "Earth yields plenty for all,--and all might share in abundance, "Were profit and labour but fairly divided among them.
"Scarce any laws are needed in our Utopia but these,-- "No fruitless labour to provide mere useless adornment, "No money encouraging man"s sloth & slavery, no rents 40 "Of t.i.teld landlords, no pamper"d luxury breeding "Fleshly disease, worst fiend & foe of mind body and soul; "All should work, and only produce life"s only requirements: "So with days all halfholidays, toil healthfully enjoy"d, "Each might, throu" leisure hours of amus.e.m.e.nt piety and peace, "In the domestic joys & holy community partake.--"
--This wer" a downleveling, my friend; you need, to a.s.sure me, Fix a limit to the folk; else, as their number is increas"t, Their happiness may dwindle away, & what was at outset Goal & prize, the provoker of all your wise revolution, 50 Will by subdivision disappear in course of atainment.
When goods are[v]increas"d, mouths are[v]increas"d to devour them: If the famine be reliev"d this season in India, next dearth Will be a worse. You know how one day Herschel acosted Such a philanthropical Save-all, who claimed to acomplish Some greatest happiness for a greatest number; "Attend, man; (Said-he) Resolve me anon one query: Suppose Adam and Eve First created on Earth but twice ten centuries ere Christ, That they gat four children in all, who liv"d, getting also Four to the pair: Had thus mankind ever equaly increast 60 By moderate families but doubling in each generation, How many souls would now be alive to revise the conundrum Of greatest happiness? No[v]answer? Well, "tis a long sum.
Say if on earth such a crowd could stand. No? Pray then imagine All earth"s land as a plain, & all this company thereon, Piled together like peas in a pintpot: How many layers?
No guess? Then how high the column? How far wu"d it extend Into the sky?--To the moon?--Further--To the sun?--To the sun! Pshaw!
That column of happy men would reach up, as I fathom its height, Million diameters of Neptune"s infinit" orbit." 70 My[v]objection annoys your kindly philanthropy?--"It proves "Too much."--Yes nature shows in that scrutiny bankrupt; Mere matter in deposit gives out. You wish to determine No limit of future polities: your actual object Is to relieve suffering, to repeal injustice acruing From monied inheritance, which makes a nonent.i.ty potent For public mischief, who might, if usefully harness"d In common employment, have a.s.sisted social order.
Why should Law give fifty talents where Nature alloys one?
For money is the talent of supreme empery: Gold, Gold 80 Envieth all, getteth all, absorbeth, mastereth all things: It pusheth out & thrusteth away pitilessly the weak ones, Those ill-fated, opprest, unfortun"d needy: Beneath them Yawns the abyss. Down down they fall, as a stream on a mountain, With ceaseless cataract. None hearkeneth; only the silent Grave, that darkly devours their cry of desperate anguish.
Spare me the story; believe more feel this grief than avow it: "Tis put aside from thought with death"s incurable evil; Left for them, that a.s.sume mankind as cause, to lament it.
And what if all Nature ratify this merciless outrage? 90 If her wonder of arch-wonders, her fair animal life, Her generate creatures, her motion"d warmblooded offspring, Haunters of the forest & royal country, her antler"d Mild-gazers, that keep silvan sabbath idly without end; Her herded galopers, sleeksided stately careerers Of trembling nostril; her coy unapproachable estrays, Stealthy treaders, climbers; her leapers furry, lissom-limb"d; Her timorous burrowers, and grangers thrifty, the sandy Playmates of the warren; her clumsy-footed, s.h.a.ggy roamers; Her soarers, the feather"d fast-fliers, loftily floating 100 Sky-sailers, exiles of high solitudinous eyries; Her perching carolers, twitterers, & sweetly singing birds; All ocean"s finny clans, mute-mouthers, watery breathers, Furtive arrow-darters, and fan-tail"d easy balancers, Silvery-scale, gilt-head, thorn-back, frill"d harlequinading Globe and slimy ribbon: Sh.e.l.l-builders of many-chamber"d Pearly dwellings, soft shapes mosslike or starry, adorning With rich floral fancy the gay rock-garden of ebb-tide: All life, from the ma.s.sive-bulkt, ivory-tusht, elephantine Centenarian, acknowledging with crouching obeisance 110 Man"s will, ev"n to the least petty whiffling ephemeral insect, Which in a hot sunbeam engend"ring, when summer is high, Vaunteth an hour his speck of tinsely gaudiness and dies: Ah! what if all & each of Nature"s favorite offspring, "Mong many distinctions, have this portentous agreement, MOUTH, STOMACH, INTESTINE? Question that brute apparatus, So manifoldly devis"d, set alert with furious instinct: What doth it interpret but this, that LIFE LIVETH ON LIFE?
That the select creatures, who[v]inherit earth"s domination, Whose happy existence is Nature"s intelligent smile, 120 Are b.l.o.o.d.y survivors of a mortal combat, a-tweenwhiles Chanting a brief paean for victory on the battlefield?
Since that of all their kinds most owe their prosperous estate Unto the art, whereby they more successfully destroy"d Their weaker brethren, more insatiably devour"d them; And all fine qualities, their forms pictorial, admired, Their symmetries, their grace, & beauty, the loveliness of them, Were by Murder evolv"d, to "scape from it or to effect it.
"Surely again (you say) too much is proven, it argues "Mere horror & despair; unless persuasion avail us 130 "That the moral virtues are man"s idea, awaken"d "By the spirit"s motions; & therefore not to be conceiv"d "In Nature"s outward & mainly material aspect, "As that is understood. You, since you hold that opinion, "Run your own ship aground invoking Nature against me."-- Then withdraw the appeal, my friend, to her active aliance; Be pessimist Nature with a pitchfork manfully expell"d, Not to return. Yet _soul in hand_, with brutal alegiance, Hunters & warriors _do not forget the comandment_.
See how lively the old animal continueth in them: 140 Of what trifling account they hold life, yet what a practis"d Art pursue to preserve it: if I should rightly define sport SLAUGHTER WITH DANGER, what were more serious and brave?
Their love of air, of strength, of wildness, afford us an inkling Of the delight of beasts, with whom they might innocently Boast a fellow-feeling, summoning them forth to the combat.
Nay dream not so quickly to see her ladyship expell"d.
Those prowling Lions of stony Kabylia, whose roar Frights from sleep the huddled herdsmen, soon as the sudden night Falls on Mount Atlas, those grave uxorious outlaws 150 Wandering in the Somali desert or waste Kalahari, Sound a challenge that amid summer-idling London is answer"d Haply in Old Bond Street, where some fashionably attired youth Daintily stands poising the weapon foredoom"d to appay them: Or[v]he mentally sighteth a tiger of India, that low Crouches among the river jungles, or hunts desolating Gra.s.sy Tarai, "neath lofty Himalya, or far southward Outacamund, Mysore"s residency, the Nilgherry mountains By Malabar; yea, and ere-long shall sight him in earnest, Stalked as a deer, surprised where he lay slumbering at noon Under a rock full-gorged, or deep in reedy covert hid 160 By the trackers disturbed: Two grand eyes shall for a moment Glare upon either side the muzzle. Woe then to the hunter, If he blench! That fury beclouded in invisible speed What marksman could arrest? what mortal abide his arrachement?
Standing above the immense carcase he gratefully praiseth G.o.d for a man-eater so fine, so worthy the slaying.
See him again; "tis war: one hill-rock strongly defended Checks advance, to be stormed at cost of half the a.s.sailants.
Gaily away they go, Highlanders, English, or Irish, 170 Or swart Ghoorkas against the leaden hail, climbing, ascending, Lost in a smoke, scattering, creeping, here there, ever upwards: Till some change cometh o"er confusion. Who winneth? ah! see!
Ours have arrived, and he who led their bravery is there.
None that heard will ever forget that far-echoing cheer: Such heard Nelson, above the crashings & thundering of guns: At Marathon "twas heard and all time"s story remembers.
See him again, when at home visiting[v]his episcopal uncle: That good priest contrast with this good captain, a.s.say them: Find a common-measure equating their rival emotions; 180 Evaporate the rubbish, the degrading pestiferous fuss Of stuck-up importance, the palatial coterie, weigh out Then the solids: whose life would claim the award of an umpire For greatest happiness? High-priest or soldier? Adjudge it By their books: Let a child give sentence. Ev"n as a magnet Turns and points to the north, so children"s obstinate insight Flies to the tale of war, hairbreadth scapes, daring achievements, Discoveries, conquests, the romance of history: these things Win them away from play to devour with greedy attention Till they long to be men; while all that clerkly palaver 190 Tastes like wormwood.--"Avast! (I hear you calling) Avast there!
I forbid the appeal."--Well, style my humour atrocious; Granted a child cannot understand; yet see what a huge growth Stands to be extermin"d, ere you can set dibble in ground.
Nay, more yet; that mighty forest, whose wildness offends you, And silences appal, where earth-life self-suffocating Seethes, lavish as sun-life in a red star"s fi"ry corona; That waste magnificence, and vain fecundity, breeding Giants & parasites embrac"d in flowery tangle, Interwoven alive and dead, where one tyrannous tree 200 Blights desolating around it a swamp of rank vegetation; Where Reason yet dreams unawakt, & throu" the solemn day Only the monkey chatters, & discordant the parrot screams: All this is in man"s heart with dateless sympathy worshipt, With filial reverence, & awful pieties involv"d; While that other picture, your formal fancy, the garden Of your stingy promise, must that not quench his imagin"d Ideals of beauty, his angel hope of attainment?
What to him are the level"d borders, the symmetric allotments, Where nothing exceedeth, nothing encroacheth, nor a.s.saileth; Where Reason now drudgeth a sad monomaniac, all day 211 Watering & weeding, digging & diligently manuring Her label"d families, starch-makers, nitrogen-extract- Purveyors, cla.s.sified potherbs & empty pretenders Of medical virtues; nay ev"n and _their_ little impulse T"ward liberal fruiting disallow"d by stern regulation; So many beans to a pod, with so many pods to a beanstalk; Prun"d, pincht, economiz"d miserly til" all is abortion, Save in such specimens as, but for an extravagant care, Had miserably perish"d. What madness works to delude you, 220 Being a man, that you see not mankind"s predilection Is for Magnificence, Force, Freedom, Bounty; his inborn Love for Beauty, his aim to possess, his pride to devise it: And from everlasting his heart is fixt with affections Preengag"d to a few sovranly determinate objects, Toys of an eternal distraction. Beautiful is GOLD, Clear as a trumpet-call, stirring where"er it appeareth All high pow"rs to battle; with magisterial ardour Glowing among the metals, elemental drops of a fire-G.o.d"s Life-blood of old outpour"d in Chaos: Magical also 230 EV"RY recondite j[=ew]el of Earth, with their seraphim-names, RUBY, JACYNTH, EMERALD, AMETHYST, SAPPHIRE; amaranthine Starry essences, elect emblems of purity, heirlooms Of deathless glories, most like to divine imanences.
Then that heart-gladdening highpriz"d ambrosia, blending Their dissolute purples & golds with sparkling aroma, That ruddy juice exprest from favour"d vintages, infus"d With cosmic laughter, when upon some secular epact Blandly the sun"s old heart is stirr"d to a septennial smile, Causing strangefortun"d comfort to melancholy mortals: 240 Friend to the flesh, if mind be fatigued; rallying to the sound mind, When succour is needed "gainst fainting weariness of flesh; Shall Wine not be belov"d? Or now let Aristotle answer What goods are,--Time leaves the scholar"s inventory unchang"d;-- All Virtues & Pow"rs, Honour & Pleasure, all that in our life Makes us self-sufficient, Friends, Riches, Comeliness, and Strength; They that[v]have these things in plenty desire to retain them, And win more; while they that lack are pleas"d to desire them.
Nay and since possession will leave the desire unappeased, Save in mere appet.i.tes that vary with our physical state, 250 Surely delight in goods is an ecstasy rather attendant On their mental image, than on experienc"d operation.
So the shepherd envies the monarch, the monarch the shepherd"s lot,-- "O what a life were this, How sweet, how lovely!" the king cries.
Whence, I say, as a man feels brave who reads of ACHILLES; One looking on riches may learn some kindred elation, And whatever notions of fortune, luxury, comfort, Genius or virtue, are shown to him, only as aspects Of possible being, "tis so much gain to desire them; Learning Magnificence in mean obscurity, tasting 260 Something of all those goods which Fate outwardly denies him.
But say none shall again be king or prosperous or great,-- Arguing "all eminence is unequal, unequal is unjust",-- Should that once come about, then alas for this merry England, Sunk in a grey monotone of drudgery, dreamily poring O"er her illumin"d page of history, faln to regretful Worship of ancestors, with nought now left to delight her, Nought to attain, save one nurst hope, one ambition only Red Revolution, a wild Reawakening, & a Renaissance.
Impatiently enough you hear me, longing to refute me, 270 While I[v]in privileg"d pulpit my period expand.
Who could allow such a list of strange miscellaneous items, So-call"d goods, Strength, Riches, Honour, Gold, Genius, and Wine?
Is not Wisdom above Rubies? more than Coral or Pearl?
Yours is a scheme deep-laid on true distinctive asortment, Parting use or good from useless or evil asunder; Dismissing accessories, while half my heathenish invoice Are Vanity"s vanities. Well; truly, as old SOLOMON said, So they _be_: What is excepted? What scapes his araignment?
Is"t Pleasure or Wisdom? Nay ask THEOLOGIA: Good-works, 280 Saith-she, offend her nostril. If I distinguish, a.s.serting, Say, that if I[v]enjoyed my neighbour"s excessive income I would hire me a string-quartett not an automaton car, You blame equally both our tastes for luxury, indeed His shows more of a use. If man"s propensity is vain, Vulgar, inane, unworthy; "tis also vain to bewail it: Think you to change his skin? "Twere scale by scale to regraft it With purer traditions; and who shall amend the amenders?
Nay let be the bubbles, till man grow more solid in mind, Condemn not the follies: My neighbour"s foolery were worse, Sat he agape listening to Mozart, intently desiring 291 All that time to be rattling along on a furious engine In caoutchouc carapace, with a trail of d.a.m.nable oilstench.
Yea, blame not the pleasures; they are not enough; pleasure only Makes this life liveable: nor scout that doctrine as unsound: Consider if mankind from puling birth to bitter death Knew nought but the sorrows, endured unrespited always Those agonizing a.s.saults which no flesh wholly can escape; Were his hunger a pang like his starvation, alievement Thereof a worse torture, like that which full many die with; Did love burn his soul as fire his skin; did affections 300 Rend his will, as Turks rend men with horses asunder; Were his labour a breathless effort; his slumber occasion For visiting Furies to repair his temple of anguish; Were thoughts all mockeries; slow intelligence a deception; His mind"s far ventures, her voyages into the unseen But horror & terrified nightmare; None then had ever heard Praise of a Creator, nor seen any Deity worshipped.
"Twas for heav"nly Pleasure that G.o.d did first fashion all thing, Nor with other benefit would holy Religion attract us 310 Picturing of Paradise. Consult our Lady"s Evangel, Where Saint Luke,--colouring (was it unconsciously, suppose you?) Fact and fable alike,--contrasts a beggar with a rich man, And from holding a fool"s happiness too greatly in esteem Makes pleasure eternal the balance of temporal evil, And the reverse; nor shrinks, ascribing thus to the next world Vaster inequalities, harsher perversity than this.
_You_ have a soul"s paradise, its entry the loop of a needle, Come hither & prithy tell me what I must do to be saved I, that feeding on Ideals in temperat" estate 320 Seem so wealthy to poor Lazarus, so needy to Dives: What from my heav"n-bound schooner"s dispensable outfit Has to be cast o"erboard? What see you here that offends you?
These myriad volumes, these tons of music:--allow them Or disallow? Fiddle and trichord?--Must all be relinquished?